Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: roof leaks

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Posted by Brandon Willis (Member # 2345) on 08-13-2004, 03:26 PM:

Just out of curiosity, does anyone have any stories to tell about roof leaks in their theatres? Any customers get rained on? Ever have a ceiling tile fall on someone? Has anyone ever had their theatre building condemned by a City inspector? I can think of a few, but my most notable roof leak story is the ongoing saga of getting rained on while I'm trying to count money in the office.

Posted by Floyd Justin Newton (Member # 1316) on 08-13-2004, 07:43 PM:

Brandon--

A long while back, "EARTHQUAKE", which was booked into the
Bethany Theatre here, litterly rattled that building apart.
A city inspector went in and after seeing large cracks in the
ceiling (portions of which fell down without injuring anyone)
he shut the theatre down until repairs and shoring could be
made. The Bethany was about a 1200 seat house, with 70mm Cinerama, DP70s. It was a really beautiful house built in the
'60s and closed in about the middle 80s. Rain isn't a problem
here, since IT DOESN'T RAIN HERE!!

fjn
Local 294 Ret

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 08-13-2004, 10:43 PM:

We had a couple of drips in the mid 1980s which we kept patching because product at the time was not pulling the crowds, and we kept putting off the roof repairs to save $.

Then came a huge hailstorm. It knocked all the neon off of the marquee, destroyed just about every roof in town (including ours) and dropped about 4 inches of rain in about an hour or so. Luckily we had (and still have) good insurance, we got a whole new roof and all the neon replaced very quickly. No ceiling plaster fell on anybody.

It's actually time for a re-seal on that roof job. No hail in sight so will probably have to pay for this one! [Smile]

Posted by Kyle Watkins (Member # 986) on 08-13-2004, 11:19 PM:

Back in 95 when i was with cobb theaters, we had really bad rain, it was blowing rain and it came through the AC units, we had almost the entire theater celing tiles come down on people, this was in multi houses. One old lady had a heart attact. That was not a good day. We knock the rest of them out to be on the safe side. a few days later AC people put some sort of shield on the AC so rain could not come blowing in.
Aslo had one print got damage that i can recall of.

At the last theater i work at we had a bad leak in the booth and it came down right on top of the electrical box.

Posted by Bill Enos (Member # 440) on 08-14-2004, 12:01 AM:

We did battle with 6 major leaks thst we channeled into 5 gal. buckets for about 5 years. The building owner has balked at ever spending a nickel so finally my employer who leases the property replaced the roof at his own expense. Last year during hurricane Isabel 2 of the buckets ran over causing some monor plaster damage, nothing fell but it is discolored and loose, repairs are being done this week and next. The roof work was done the week after Isabel.

Posted by Dominic Espinosa (Member # 2122) on 08-14-2004, 01:54 AM:

Back in the early 90's the Merced Theater in Merced California, once dubbed "The finest theater between Pasadena and San Francisco" (i think) formely a 1 screener built in the 30's had the roof fall in after it had been opperating as a 4 screen for UA for some time.

Posted by Nate Lehrke (Member # 1460) on 08-14-2004, 03:32 AM:

These are from the Mann/Madstone Tamarac 6:

We liked to seat our members in these seats so they would get a free bath while they enjoyed the mediocre presentation in a crappy auditorium.

Posted by Carl Martin (Member # 1146) on 08-14-2004, 04:09 AM:

a few winters ago during our retrofit the building had a temporary "tent" roof erected while the real roof was removed. naturally this collapsed in a rainstorm, drenching the theater. the projection equipment was well sealed so it didn't get hit too bad.

last winter we had water running down a booth wall when it rained hard. sheetrock would saturate, puff out, and flake off. my boss never was able to get in touch with those roofers so i expect the same thing to happen this coming winter....

the suspended ceiling over our upstairs booth is very saggy, not really related to rain though. directly over it is the attic which is very dirty. i suspect dirt is more or less constantly making its way down into the booth. one of these days it will probably collapse. at one point during the retrofit a crowbar (we think) was dropped through the ceiling, putting a hole in the top platter deck. it's still there.

carl

Posted by Brandon Willis (Member # 2345) on 08-14-2004, 12:08 PM:

We had entire sections of seats roped off after Isabel. The worst leaks are in the older auditoriums in the front section of the building. I think the worst one was in #14 (our second biggest house) where the entire front section, about 60 seats, had to be closed off. Now, #3 leaks at the top of the stadium seats and #20 leaks down in front. The roof has been patched repeatedly but has never been repaired. We were one of only a few theatres in town that got power back right after Isabel. Consequently, we were pulling in about 6,000 people a day with no security personnel due to the hurricane! That was a fun weekend.

Bill -
I heard from a coworker of mine that at the Westhampton, someone spilled a drink in the upstairs auditorium and it leaked through the floor, into the downstairs booth, all over their first print of "Fahrenheit 9/11."

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 08-14-2004, 11:38 PM:

I don't ever remember working in a theater that DIDN'T have a roof leak of some sort! I've seen everything you mention, Brandon, except condemnation.

In the (stage) theater where I work, there are 5 "coffin doors" in the roof above the stage.

(Think like double-wide skylights with spring loaded metal doors held shut by a fusible link. The idea is that, if there is a fire, the links will break and the doors will spring open to let the smoke out of the building. We call them "coffin doors" because: A) If you go up on the roof and look at them, it looks like 10 coffins all lined up, side by side on the roof. B) If those doors don't work as they are supposed to when needed, you and a lot of other people are liable to end up in a coffin. [Big Grin]

)

Anyhow, those coffin doors ALWAYS leak when it rains. We can't go up there and seal them because that would render them inoperative, thereby invoking reason "B", above.

A little water dripping on the stage isn't such a huge problem until you think about the possibility of water dripping on a hot light! It happened only one time that I know of. Luckily, it was only a rehearsal. (You know the old saying: "A disaster at rehearsal is an omen for a good show. [Wink]

)

Frankly, when you work in just about any kind of commercial building leaky roofs are just a fact of life in one form or another. It's unfortunate to say, but you're probably going to have to get used to it... OR... Do like a friend of mine did: Go to Lowe's and buy a whole bunch of vinyl rain gutters and put them up on the grid, above the drop ceiling. Strategically placed, you can probably channel the water down a drain some place. [Big Grin]

Posted by Bill Enos (Member # 440) on 08-16-2004, 12:53 AM:

This thread is testimony to what architects just don't seem to understand, and that everybody else does, that is no matter what they're made of flat roofs always leak.

Posted by William Hooper (Member # 71) on 08-16-2004, 02:43 AM:

The worst I've seen was after Hurricane Georges on the Mississippi coast. It came ashore near Biloxi, did the usual structural damage all across Mississippi's coast from Pascaguola to Long Beach, but then stuck & rained for weeks. With all the roof damage, rain was just pouring in.

The usual army of opportunistic contractors & construction guys moved into the area to make money & repairs; unfortunately, Beau Rivage, a huge casino in Biloxi, was under construction, behind schedule, & losing money. They had guys going around & wherever they saw construction guys working somewhere on repairs, asked what they were making, then offered more. NOBODY could get anything fixed, everybody was over at Beau Rivage working for them.

All the theaters (and other commercial buildings, homes, etc.) on the Mississippi coast were leaking. Not just the current-release theaters, but even the Biloxi Saenger (owned by the city) was falling apart because rain was still pouring in destroying the walls, plaster, etc. I saw the IB Wizard of Oz in a parking lot twin with plasic over 60% of the seats, all the ceiling tiles gone, rain pounding on the roof, water running down the walls & dripping from the ceiling. Even after the rain left up, it was about ANOTHER month before anybody could start prying people loose from Beau Rivage, & I think the city leaned on them to not just stop, but turn some loose. The theater that ran Oz had to be razed, as did a couple others, & quite a few commercial buildings, homes, even entire shopping centers. The effects of the hurricane were MUCH less severe than not being able to get someone to patch up afterwards.

Posted by Phil Blake (Member # 2012) on 08-18-2004, 10:49 AM:

Building quality has not improved! Our cinema was built in 2002 , the first rain , the roof leaked. The leak resulted in water running down a xenon exhaust duct and into the xenon lamphouse.

I guess we were lucky the leak was not in a more serious spot , like the garbage room!

Posted by Jeremy Fuentes (Member # 2135) on 08-18-2004, 11:56 AM:

We have a roof that has leaked a couple times right on to the lamphouse!! [Eek!]

We had a bad storm one night and the leak was bad enough to splash around the print causing it to stick together causing brainwraps. [Mad]

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 08-18-2004, 08:55 PM:

I've seen sound racks and projector consoles 3 inches deep in water! The kids just trudged through the water and started the projectors up as if nothing was wrong in the world!

I've seen water coming through a hole in the roof, running down an I-Beam and "pissing" right onto operating light fixtures!

I've seen water cascading down the inside of a wall (like a waterfall) bleeding through drywall from the other side, causing it to crumble like wet newspaper right before your eyes!

In the brand new, multi-million dollar "Education Center" built on my campus there is a 100 foot high cupola on top of the building. (The building is 50 ft. The cupola is another 50 ft. like a steeple.)

The contractors who ran the sprinkler pipes through the building "forgot" to insulate the pipes that ran through the cupola.

Those who know what winters are like on Lake Erie (and surrounding climes) understand that temperatures below 0 deg. F. are de rigeur!

Well, in January, those pipes froze! The building hadn't even been open for 3 months! Water was cascading down everywhere! Then, it was freezing in some places. Three floors of rotten ceiling tiles, melted drywall and squishy carpet! They practically had to gut the building and start over again!

So... If you merely have a few drips in your building, count yourself LUCKY! [Big Grin]

Posted by Brandon Willis (Member # 2345) on 08-18-2004, 11:08 PM:

quote:
I've seen water cascading down the inside of a wall (like a waterfall) bleeding through drywall from the other side, causing it to crumble like wet newspaper right before your eyes!

I've seen something similar. A couple of us were sitting in the accounting office one night after a big storm when we heard water pouring. We looked around to see where it was coming from, and saw it streaming down the wall. Right at that moment the monitor for the security cameras went dark.

Posted by Bill Enos (Member # 440) on 08-19-2004, 12:37 AM:

I thought we had it bad, but at our worst last summer it wasn't as bad as some of these stories. The 10 foot high 88 foot long trusses spanning width of the building give us an attic high enough to walk in and check for leaks regularly during rain and snow melts, necessary even with the new roof.

Posted by Brandon Willis (Member # 2345) on 08-20-2004, 12:21 AM:

They put a new roof on the Ridge, only to close it down a few months later.

Posted by Bill Enos (Member # 440) on 08-20-2004, 07:34 AM:

At least the workers gutting the place were dry.

Posted by Dean Kollet (Member # 1789) on 08-29-2004, 01:32 AM:

quote: Bill Enos
This thread is testimony to what architects just don't seem to understand, and that everybody else does, that is no matter what they're made of flat roofs always leak.

why don't they built slanted roofs on theatres? it can't cost THAT much more. I know there has to be room for huge A/C systems and whatnot, but why with all the money they get do they still build stuff that leaks so easily?

Posted by Bryan J Arseneau (Member # 1832) on 08-29-2004, 03:55 AM:

During the opening weekend of The Corporation a small piece of plaster fell from the front of the house.
Here we are with 800 people in the house and a patron comes up to let me know that a piece of the ceiling has fallen. The piece is about 3.5 inches by 4 inches.
Now this happened just after the collapse of the uptown theatre in Toronto so the city is in a scared mode , so the Bloor is shut down for 2 months.
They have to have structural assessments done they have to have HVAC assessed.
They are now re opened with a new ceiling.
We are talking abut a cinema built in 1941, and one of the nicest rep houses in Toronto.
Every time I run The Coronation in Toronto I tell the theatre I am Not responsible for the ceiling [beer]

Posted by Jacob Szewczyk (Member # 2513) on 08-29-2004, 04:56 PM:

A few years ago, we had a tornado which caused some leaks in the booth. One of the leaks was over the top decj of one of our platters. Since this was after we were closed, we didn't discover the leak till the next day, which was too late for our copy of 'Shrek', which got totally destroyed. We also have a leak over the top decks of 2 of our other platters, but we discovered those before they could do too much damage.

Posted by Gary Crawford (Member # 2038) on 08-31-2004, 02:07 PM:

Like was mentioned above, there weren't many theaters that DIDN'T have roof leaks. All those old places in Asbury Park NJ, the last one built in 1929, all had flat roofs that did leak sooner or later. Soon major, some minor, but they all leaked.

Our theater, the Beach Cinema (formerly The Palace) in Bradley Beach NJ was a 4/12 wooden truss roof. I really don't know if it was original. If not, it was added a long time ago. That roof is okay (except when the gutters pack with leaves in the fall) and I have two little leakers in the booth. An old skylight drips sometimes, and if the wind is right I'll get some rain down the old fire fan opening, but not all the time. Of course, the fire fan is right above Machine #1.

Posted by Brandon Willis (Member # 2345) on 09-02-2004, 10:54 AM:

The heavy storms this area had this past week worsened our existing leaks, and opened up a few new ones. We now have about 4 leaks in front of our indoor box office, a couple in the auxiliary lobby, and leaks in almost all of the auditoriums in the older section of the building. There's also a few new leaks in the booth, one of which is directly over top of a lamphouse. We're working on getting someone up there to take care of it soon.